Chapter 63: Shocking! Regiment Commander Lu Abuses His New Wife!

At this moment, standing at the entrance of the military family compound were not only Lu Zhanlin, but also Xu Feng, who had met Chu Yue once before, and Song Hongmei, the head of the women’s committee in the compound.

The three of them seemed to be in the middle of a discussion, standing beside a parked military vehicle.

As soon as Chu Yue and Lu Yuanbao appeared, the trio stopped talking and looked up—each showing a face of stunned disbelief.

Lu Zhanlin looked at the two figures not far off—both of them covered in dirt, looking like mud people. His usual stern and handsome face cracked with astonishment.

Xu Feng blinked hard. At first, he didn’t even recognize the dirty woman in front of him—wasn’t this the beautiful young lady he had met at the train station?

He only realized it was her when he saw Lu Yuanbao beside her.

“You… you’re…”

This was Lu Zhanlin’s new wife?

She hadn’t even been with Lu Zhanlin for a full week—and she already looked like this?

“Commander Lu,” Xu Feng said, elbowing Lu Zhanlin playfully, “the girl married you to be your wife, not your laborer. How could you treat your new bride like this?”

Clearly, he was joking.

But the sight of Chu Yue and Lu Yuanbao really was too pitiful—both of them filthy from head to toe, weighed down with loads of stuff. They looked like peasants bullied by a landlord, forced to work the fields all day.

Even Song Hongmei, still frozen in shock, hurriedly asked, “Sister Chu, did you fall down the mountain or something?”

Just then, a figure flashed past Song Hongmei and Xu Feng.

“I’ll take that.”

Lu Zhanlin strode over to Chu Yue and, without waiting for her to speak, reached out and took the large bamboo basket off her back, swinging it onto his own shoulder.

The weight made his shoulders sink. His brows rose in disbelief.

It’s this heavy?

Lu Zhanlin then continued, taking the rest of the items from Chu Yue—including the two wild mountain chickens—and tossed them to the gawking Xu Feng.

“Hold these.”

Then he took all the things Yuanbao was carrying and dumped them into Xu Feng’s arms as well. A bystander ought to be put to work—might as well make full use of the free labor.

Before long, Xu Feng was piled full of goods.

Lu Yuanbao softly said, “Thanks, Daddy.”

Meanwhile, Chu Yue was just about to respond to Song Hongmei’s question, but Lu Zhanlin beat her to it.

“Don’t move.”

He raised his hand again, his deep gaze fixed on her forehead. His jaw tensed as he reached out and plucked a few dry leaves from her hair, then gently brushed her forehead with his knuckles.

There was dried dirt stuck to her fair skin.

Chu Yue’s complexion was naturally pale, so any dirt stood out starkly.

Lu Zhanlin tried rubbing it off, but the grime wouldn’t budge. His hands, rough and calloused from years of handling firearms, only made it worse—the more he rubbed, the redder her forehead got.

The big brute panicked slightly.

Frowning, he asked, “Did you really fall down the mountain? Are you hurt?”

He couldn’t help but wonder.

Chu Yue felt a strange tingling where he had touched her forehead—it wasn’t heat or pain, but more like a jolt of static electricity.

She subtly leaned away from his hand and casually touched her own forehead, as if brushing off the residual tingle.

“I didn’t fall. I just got a little dirty, it’s nothing serious.” Chu Yue turned and smiled at Song Hongmei. “Sister Song, I’m fine—didn’t fall, but thank you for your concern.”

Song Hongmei watched the interaction between Lu Zhanlin and Chu Yue. As a married woman herself, she could see clearly what was going on—and couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear.

“As long as you’re not hurt. You’ve worked hard on the mountain all day—go home and change into clean clothes. Have a nice dinner tonight!”

“Okay.”

Chu Yue nodded with a smile. Now that she was no longer burdened, she walked forward with ease.

Lu Zhanlin, dressed in his military uniform, carried a bamboo basket on his back and held two wild mountain chickens in his hands as he walked beside Chu Yue. If the soldiers in his regiment saw him like this, they’d probably laugh for three days and nights.

After all, it was rare to get a good joke out of Regiment Commander Lu.

The cool and stern image Lu Zhanlin usually projected was now completely undone. By contrast, Xu Feng—who was also carrying a bunch of stuff—oddly seemed to match the messy, chaotic vibe just fine.

He was not only carrying Lu Yuanbao’s things, but had even picked up the boy and let him sit on his arm.

Xu Feng’s rugged face was full of smiles. “I’m your dad’s brother—my name’s Xu Feng. You can call me Uncle Xu.”

“Hello, Uncle Xu.”

Lu Yuanbao grabbed Xu Feng’s shoulder with his small hand and spoke seriously.

Xu Feng really liked this kid. “Not bad! Like a little man already. Do you want to be a soldier like Uncle one day? Wear a uniform and look all cool?”

“Cool!”

Lu Yuanbao couldn’t resist reaching out and touching Xu Feng’s shoulder patch—it had shiny stars and sparkled brightly.

Up ahead, Lu Zhanlin was talking quietly with Chu Yue.

He asked, “What made you suddenly think of going up the mountain?”

“There are mountain goods in the hills—things we can eat ourselves, and the extras we can sell in the market to make some money.”

At that response, a trace of awkwardness flashed in Lu Zhanlin’s eyes.

Lu Zhanlin’s inner thoughts: So… my wife really does think I don’t make enough money.

But at that moment, Chu Yue subtly moved closer to Lu Zhanlin. Seeing that no one was around, she carefully took a ginseng root out from her coat and revealed a corner of it to him.

“Look—”

Lu Zhanlin was surprised. “Ginseng?”

“Mhm, ginseng! Yuanbao dug it up.”

As she spoke, her eyes curved into crescents, her expression full of excitement—and also pride.

The look on her face was exactly like Lu Yuanbao’s earlier, when he had proudly shown off the pile of wild yams he dug up.

With sparkling eyes and a cheerful tone, Chu Yue said, “When we go down the mountain next time for market day, I’ll sell this ginseng—it’ll fetch a good price. With that money, we’ll be able to have a proper New Year celebration. I can buy you and Yuanbao new clothes. And we can also…”

Chu Yue went on, listing all the things their little family of three would need to prepare.

As Lu Zhanlin listened, his chest felt both tight and warm, his heart pounding.

Even though Chu Yue’s face still had a few smudges of dirt, in his eyes, she had never looked more beautiful.

On the way back—

One of the village wives saw the group of four. The wild mountain chickens in Lu Zhanlin’s hand were especially eye-catching.

“Commander Lu, heading home to cook? Is that… is that chicken?” the woman asked in surprise.

Lu Zhanlin nodded and, unexpectedly, added a few more words: “Yes, wild mountain chickens—Chu Yue caught them up in the mountains.”

His tone, along with the slight arch of his brow, carried a touch of pride.

Even Xu Feng, as rough as he was, could hear the subtext loud and clear: Just say it, man—‘Isn’t my wife awesome?’

The woman’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.

Caught chickens… caught them in the mountains… wild mountain chickens…

They had lived here so long and never seen anything like that—and somehow Chu Yue had just arrived and already stumbled upon it?

This new wife was way too lucky!